Sixteen-year-old
Nathaniel "Nate" Richards is rescued by his
time-traveling adult self, the villainous
Kang the Conqueror, moments before
bullies would cause him to be
hospitalized for years of his life from a knife attack, an event that originally shaped his development into a villain. Kang takes his
teenage self through time to witness the future battles and glory that would result in his transformation into Kang the Conqueror, hoping to inspire his younger self. However, it backfires and Nate is horrified at the life of
evil his future self shows him. Kang presses Nate to accept his future by killing the bully who would have hospitalized him. Instead, Nate takes the time travel technology given to him by Kang and transports himself to the past, hoping to avoid his sinister destiny.
[1]
He seeks the Avengers for assistance, but finds the
Avengers disbanded. Seeking answers, he downloads the remnants of the destroyed
Vision's operating system into his armor. This reveals a
fail-safe plan created by the android to reform the Avengers should they disband or fall in action by locating the next generation of Avengers, all whom have some tie to the original team. Using this plan, Nate assembles his new team, the
Young Avengers, with the sole purpose of defeating his future self and reshaping his own future. He models his armor after the Avenger
Iron Man, calling himself
Iron Lad.
